7 of the best foods for weight loss

People are always looking for the best foods for weight loss. Losing weight isn’t just about calories. It’s about the kind of food we eat, the exercise we endure, the overall lifestyles we adopt. Rather than starving ourselves (which actually negatively affects metabolism, resulting in fat retention), we benefit more from eating healthful, natural foods.

Trying to lose weight in America is a constant battle. We’re simultaneously bombarded by the multi-billion-dollar diet industry and images of how we’re supposed to look while fast food and other fat-promoting foods and ingredients run rampant in our food supply. Our own government seems to endorse unhealthy foods like GMOs.

The following 7 foods are some of the best foods for weight loss, being especially helpful at naturally accelerating fat loss.

Best Foods for Weight Loss

Apples

In one Brazilian study, subjects who ate three apples a day lost more weight than subjects who didn’t. The weight loss can be attributed to pectin—a soluble fiber and a common ingredient in fruit jam—which is known to make you feel fuller longer (as well as helping prevent colon cancer). In addition to helping with weight loss, apples are high in vitamin C, flavonoids, antioxidants, minerals, dietary fiber, beta-carotene (used in the medical community to treat certain disorders like protoporphyria), and phytosterol (which may inhibit various cancers and help lower cholesterol).

Watermelons

Watermelon extract lowers blood pressure and hypertension, which can result from obesity and excess belly fat. A University of Kentucky study found that animals experiencing diet-induced high cholesterol given watermelon juice lost more abdominal fat than animals fed the same diet but with water.

Avocados

Though often shunned by dieters for being high in fat, avocados are full of good fats, like healthy omega-3 fatty acids and monounsaturated fat, as well as potassium and the amino acid lecithin, which helps with liver function.

Turmeric

Often touted for its anti-cancer and antioxidant properties, turmeric and curcumin are also powerful allies in healthy fat loss. Over 13 peer-reviewed studies conclude that turmeric and curcumin consumption is directly linked to healthy degrees of fat loss and healthy insulin function. One study from the Xi’an Jiaotog University School of Medicine found that curcumin decreased levels of insulin and leptin resistance caused by a high fat diet.

Chocolate

Is chocolate good for you? It may sound surprising, but chocolate actually rests among the best foods for weight loss. Everybody can rejoice in the fact that moderate intake of chocolate is actually a good way to help with weight loss (and still get a sweet tooth fix). A 2008 study published in the Journal of Nutrition says that eating small amounts of chocolate reduced systolic blood pressure and bad cholesterol by 5.3 percent Just be sure that your snack of choice is butter- or coconut-oil based rather than hydrogenated vegetable fats. Natural sugars as opposed to high fructose corn syrup and GMO beet sugar are preferred.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes contain a compound called 9-oxo-octadecadienoic (or 9-oxo-ODA for the impatient), which affects blood lipids, too much of which can cause high blood cholesterol Dr. Teruo Kawada, the lead author of the study that identified the compound, says that “finding a compound which helps the prevention of obesity-related chronic diseases in food stuff is a great advantage to tackling these diseases, and tomato allows people to manate the onset of dyslipedemia [high cholesterol] through their daily diet.”

Celery

It actually takes more calories to eat celery than you gain from it, which results in simple fat loss for celery lovers. Additionally, celery is high in vitamin C, calcium, and apigenin, a compound that reduces risk of ovarian cancer.

While these are some of the best foods for weight loss, there a number of other foods to boost metabolism and accelerate fat loss.